Three days with my father

I had the awesome opportunity of spending three days and two nights in early December with my 89-year-old father at his home in Tennessee. I was able to give my wonderful stepmother a much needed vacation to visit with her brother. So Dad and I were together alone. This time together was extremely heartwarming.

My father is blessed to still get around fairly well with the help of his walking stick. We got a chance to really reconnect. Our time together felt very comfortable and very familiar. Aside from Christmas get-togethers and a weekly Sunday night telephone call, I felt I had lost a little closeness with my father. That was my fault. This one-on-one time allowed us to get to know each other better and to tell old stories again and again.

Dad stays remarkably well-informed. He gets home delivery of two daily newspapers, the Chattanooga Free Press and the small local paper. He spends a lot of time reading each paper. He is remarkably well-informed on both local and national news. He looks younger than his 89 years and has very few wrinkles. I try to encourage him by telling him that he can make it 11 more years to 100.

Coincidentally, I read in USA Today that the 2010 census found that there were 53,364 people ages 100 and older. Four out of five Americans who make it to 100 are women but we guys are catching up. The population 100 and older makes up a small portion of the total US population representing fewer than two per 10,000 people. Also more than half, 63%, of centenarians were age 100 or 101. My guess is that after a person reaches that century milestone, they probably give up on trying living longer. There are just 330 super centenarians, ages 110 and older. So if anyone can make it to 100, my father will make it.

I would guess that living with him on a daily basis could be a challenge. Like many older people with poor circulation, he likes to keep his house very warm. He keeps his heat up to 72°, which feels very warm to me.

Also, like many older people who grew up in times of tremendous shortage, he loves to hoard the basic necessities. We went shopping at the supermarket and he ambled over to the aisle with the toilet tissue. He wanted to see if there were any bargains available today. I said firmly with a smile, “Dad, you have 108 rolls of toilet tissue in your house because I counted them before we left home. Assuming that you were to use two rolls per week, which is unlikely, that is still a two-year supply. Let's keep moving.” He smiled back.

While I was driving his older yet well maintained Buick around town, Dad reminded me to “Get in this lane.” or “Be ready to turn here.” I had a vivid flashback to when I was 15 and he was first teaching me how to drive. Hearing his constant stream of driving instructions was both slightly irritating and tremendously nostalgic.

I read that there are four stages in your life:

1. You are first children to your parents
2. You are next parents to your children
3. You are next parents to your parents when they get old (where I am now)
4. Finally you are children to your parents when you get very old (I am thankfully not there yet)

So I suppose that I acted as a parent to my father about the toilet tissue. I felt comfortable telling him that he had enough toilet tissue. I believe that he felt comfortable also because he laughed. Perhaps he felt a little resentment also, not unlike a teenager whose request to borrow the family car was just turned down by his parents. I hope that when I get older, I will have the same good-natured sense of humor about my own idiosyncrasies.

Spending time with my father was perhaps a stark preview of my own future. Will I be a hoarder of toilet tissue? Will I become bossy and tell everybody around me how they should best attempt every small task? I hope not but I cannot guarantee it.

So what is my advice for you? If your parents are still alive, then I suggest that you carve out of your busy schedule two or three days when you can spend quality time with them and only them. A holiday party, while lots of fun, does not give you the opportunity to closely connect one-on-one with the people you most love. I will never forget this time with my Dad.

Where are all the great IT candidates?

Where are all the great IT candidates?

The question we get asked most often is this one, “Where are all the great IT candidates?”  The short answer is that research shows an extreme shortage of IT skilled professionals exists worldwide. The competition for talent has increased to a fierce level. SourceCon quotes a Robert Half report with these sobering thoughts.

“The pool of available candidates continues to shrink, while the demand for technology experts is climbing. Competition is expected to be particularly fierce for professionals who can support mobile, big data, cloud, and virtualization initiatives. Talented candidates with high-demand skills may receive multiple job offers — and most will be very selective when choosing an opportunity.”

This shortage is causing the cost to rise.

“Salaries for tech workers in the U.S. will rise almost twice the national average in 2013 — some will increase even more, up to 12 percent — a symptom of how competitive the competition for talent has become.”

The full article can be found at

http://www.sourcecon.com/news/2012/10/18/it-pay-raises-to-be-almost-twice-national-average/?utm_source=SourceCon&utm_campaign=d39cd144f2-sourcecon-weekly-sourcing-beyond&utm_medium=email#more-7497

Our experience verifies that these market conditions are true. Every one of our searches is challenging right now.

Many reasons exist for the increased demand and reduced supply. Rather than exploring all the causes of this shortage, you as a results oriented manager have a mission to accomplish and you probably want ideas on how to cope with market. Here are some reasons why positions are going unfilled.

1.    Hiring managers are holding out for perfect candidates with a long list of required skills – does that remind you of the unmarried single person who is still holding out for the perfect marriage partner?

2.    The salary offered is insufficient for the market place – why would an employee work for you at less money than they could command elsewhere?

3.    Managers are reluctant to pay a new employee more than existing employee with a similar skill set – remind yourself that just because you found an item on sale last year, can you expect to find the item on sale today?

4.    Managers may be unduly focused on experience while neglecting aptitude – if a person has the three golden attributes of intelligence, hard work, and a positive attitude, then could they master the skill you are seeking?

Our recruiters at Visionaire have freedom to choose which jobs to recruit for each day. They tell us that they are eager to work on searches if the manager is unwilling to be flexible on salary, willing to be flexible on skills, and has a sense of urgency to interview when a suitable candidate is found.

If you are hiring manager and you are finding no perfect candidates, then take a fresh look and consider these following options. 

1.    Narrow down your list of required skills to just three major items and move the other skills to a preferred skills category

2.    Consider candidates with fewer skills or less experience but with the aptitude to master the skills they lack

3.    Increase your salary range to meet the marketplace if you have to have senior level skills

4.    Consider using contractors to help you meet strategically important objectives

You might find that your flexibility will help you to find and grow professionals for your staff and achieve your business objectives quicker.